Not the Time for Jealousy
by byakatsu
Summary: With the recent promotion of Tenten and Lee to Jounin, Team Gai has drifted significantly, and Neji and Tenten take it upon themselves to bring it back together, but with their new mysterious mission on hand, unrequited feelings and a new man in Tentens life, will the two succeed or will they break the team apart for good?


Hey everyone! Before I start this story, I'd like to let you know that it's my new and improved version of 'Not the Time for Jealousy', which I published last year and deleted after the third chapter. I'm sure that this wont happen to this story - it's been well thought out this time, and I've changed quite a few things, but nothing that won't benefit the story. I felt that my previous work was a little sloppy, so I decided to rewrite it all together, without some things that made the story seem all over the place.

I hope you all enjoy this! It would be appreciated if you could review it so I know how I'm going :)

xxxx

* * *

Tenten gave a long sigh as she shuffled idly towards the Hokage tower. An ANBU member had interrupted her personal training session to tell her that she had been summoned by Tsunade, although they had not left any details apart from that. She was a little peeved that she'd been summoned as soon as she began to work up a sweat, but she hadn't had a good mission for a while so she hoped that the meeting was worthwhile.

The Hokage tower wasn't one of Tenten's favourite places. Childhood memories left her with a feeling of uneasiness whenever she was there, and although she had strengthened herself over the years, mentally and physically, that eerie feeling never fully went away. Tenten gradually accepted the fact that she would be there a lot if she were to continue her life as a ninja, but that didn't change the fact that the tower made her feel sick to her core.

She shook herself off and stepped inside, taking every step slowly, focusing on her breathing to get her mind away from where she was.

As she entered the office, she was surprised to see some familiar faces lying in wait for her.

"Way to keep us all waiting, Tenten," scoffed Naruto. That earned him a hit over the head by Sakura.

Tenten laughed it off and walked inside, lining up next to the other eleven people (and one dog). Her gaze drifted over the crowd and settled on Neji, who hadn't been to practice for 3 days straight. She'd been wondering what that was about – Neji was never one to miss practice, let alone 3 days' worth of it, although it wasn't like their training sessions were regular nowadays. She'd assumed he was on a mission, but it seems that wasn't the case.

That was a matter to dwell on another time, as Tsunade cleared her throat to bring everyone's attention towards her.

"Now that you're all here, I can brief you on our current situation," she said. "Before I tell you all the details, know one thing; this is a top secret mission, and it's not to be spoken about anywhere other than this room." Tsunade scanned the faces of the twelve ninja, making sure everyone was focused intently on what she was saying. When she was happy with what she saw, she clamped her hands together on top of the paper clad desk, and began to speak. "Lately, we've had a few cases of shinobi losing some of their jutsu for a small amount of time when they've attempted to use them. Thankfully, the only times that this has happened is when the said shinobi have gone to train and not been able to activate their powers, but I'm sure you all can see how dangerous this would be if someone was caught in a life or death situation. What we can conclude from the results is that this usually happens off duty ninja that have been out and about for some time before training. We have no idea what could have caused this, but I myself believe that this is no coincidence; it could not have been a natural occurrence. I believe that someone did this to us on purpose, so what I want you guys to do is stay in Konoha and go about your everyday lives, maybe even going out more frequently than usual, and tell me immediately if you experience any abnormalities in any jutsu you perform. Let me make this clear – I trust you all with everything, and this is why I am assigning you this mission. It was not requested by someone, I am the one who wants it done. ANBU members would usually do my personal work, but they aren't suited for this kind of mission and there are more urgent matters to be dealt with, so I believe you all will do just fine. Any questions?"

Tenten sighed on the inside. She was hoping for a more exciting mission, but ever since she had finally been promoted to Jounin two years ago, she had only gotten about three missions that really challenged her. She thought she should be happy – that meant that things were finally beginning to settle down in the world – but she was more disappointed than anything, as she'd fallen into a routine of training, grocery shopping, and occasionally catching up with friends. It bored her, not to mention that the salary was terrible.

Nobody spoke up, as there wasn't much to say.

"Okay, then. Here is a list of places I would like you to visit at least once. This mission will be on for a week, if there are no results by then, then I believe that there will not be enough sufficient evidence to continue the investigation." Tsunade handed the list to no one in particular, and Naruto took it from her, with a big grin on his face.

"Don't worry Granny! We'll get to the bottom of this."

Tsunade gave a soft smile. "I have no doubts in my mind that you will. You may all leave, but make sure you take a look at that list before you begin the mission."

They all gave nods of approval and began making their way out of the tower.

* * *

Tenten wandered the bustling streets of Konoha. The list of where they had to go had been pretty simple things, like restaurants, bars or certain places that those ninja who had lost their powers frequented, but they were also told to go to busy places where there would be large crowds of people around, hence the reason why she was here. She wasn't quite sure how to act, as the area she was in was a popular shopping district, but she had never been here for herself. She always made an effort to buy her groceries from the store near her house – not only was it cheap, but it was also run by an elderly couple and she figured they needed the costumers. As for clothes, she would go to op shops or shops that specialized in ninja wear, and neither of those things were in this part of the village.

She shrugged it off and tried to look normal, despite the fact that her instincts told her she didn't belong here. Tenten scanned the colourful shopfronts, some with signs claiming that their products were dirt cheap, others claiming quality. She thought she ought to check some of them out, but she wasn't sure where she should go first.

That's when her eyes settled on a large sign in front of a shop that had next to no costumers inside it. "Quality Weapons! Closing Down Sale!" Before her mind could catch up, her feet were leading her towards the store, and what she found inside was nothing short of what she thought heaven would look like.

* * *

Neji picked at his herring soba. He'd was at a small café that specialized in all sorts of noodles. He'd chosen to enter based of how little people were in there. The shop didn't stand out amongst all the big clothing stores and expensive restaurants, but that was more than okay with him. He was supposed to be forcing himself into crowds and visiting busy places, but right now this was as good as it got. He wasn't in the mood for crowds and people.

He didn't particularly like eating out either, but he figured he would be doing a lot of it for this next week, so he may as well start now. He hadn't been to this part of town yet, as it was for more mundane things that ninja didn't require, not to mention that the Hyuga household provided everything he needed. He wondered to himself if he was grateful for this mission or if he despised it. On one hand, he did not want to be at that wretched place he called home, and on the other hand he didn't particularly want to be out and about either. Neji shook his head at his own stupidity. He wasn't usually one to be upset over little things – he had let that part of himself go a long time ago, but ever since his 21st birthday 3 days ago he had been in a constant slump.

_Don't think about it_, he told himself.

He focused his attention on the food and wondered what Tenten and Lee would say when they realised that they had missed his birthday. He thought he'd seen Tenten start to walk towards him as they left the Hokage tower earlier, but something seemed to tell her it was better not to. Now that he thought about it, he had probably been giving off a bad aura, so she wasn't to blame for that. Lee, on the other hand, was too busy doing laps of the village on his hands to speak to anyone.

The team had always bought each other presents for Christmas and birthdays, and as embarrassed as he was to admit it, he'd enjoyed that a lot. Their friendship was something that he was secretly proud of, but lately he'd been deprived of it. He had brought Tenten a present this year, but he had never gotten a chance to give it to her. He blamed the fact that the team was not as close as they all used to be due to the recent promotion of Lee and Tenten. They were promoted around the same time, and despite the team's best efforts to stay together, they soon drifted and begun taking more solo missions. They still trained together, mostly, but it wasn't the same, and that was a big blow to Neji. When he was promoted to Jounin, they stayed together no matter what, and the fact that they talked less and less these days made him think that the team was not all he had thought they'd cracked up to be – after all, all the other teams were still standing strong.

But, like all problems – big or small – it had to be dealt with or blocked out, and Neji opted for the latter option. There wasn't much he could do about it; everyone knew he wasn't good with social matters. It wasn't that he was particularly bad, but he wasn't like Naruto who could stitch his team together and patch things up whenever things came undone, as much as he wish he were.

Really, until these past couple of years, Neji had thought he'd never needed friends. Oh how wrong he had been.

His soba had lost its taste and all of his thoughts were depressing, and not making his foul mood any better. Neji got up out of his seat, deciding that the best way to get his mind off things was to train.

Just as he was about to leave the small shop, someone came barging in the door.

"Hey! Watch where you're- oh hey Neji!" It was none other than Kiba, and not surprisingly, he smelt like dog.

"Hello, Kiba," he said through gritted teeth, attempting to pass the man.

"What's goin' on?" he barked, oblivious to the fact that Neji was practically radiating anger. "You waiting for your girlfriend?"

Neji did a double take. "Excuse me?"

"Your girlfriend. You know, Tenten! She's right over there, in the shop, ya see?"

If Neji had been drinking anything, he would've spat it right out into Kibas face. Tenten? _Girlfriend?_ "Tenten my _teammate_ and _just_ my teammate." _if even that, _he thought.

"Really? I kinda assumed you guys were just getting it on, but now that I think about it I've never actually heard anything about you guys as a couple at all. Now that I think about it, I barely see you together!" He laughed.

Neji didn't even bother replying. Kiba was getting on his nerves, and he didn't want to snap. He tried to pass, but to no avail, as the shops little entry way would only allow for one fully grown man at a time.

Despite the fact that Neji had not said anything back to him, Kiba just kept going. "I say you're missin' out. If you ask me, that girl is hot."

Neji met his eyes with a cold glare. "I didn't ask you," he replied, with more acid in his voice than what was probably needed.

The dog man finally seemed to notice Neji's foul mood when he looked into his eyes. A surprised look danced across his face for the littlest amount of time, but Neji didn't miss it.

"May I pass?" he asked, as politely as his mood would allow.

"Ah… um, sure thing, bro. Have a good one."

_Whatever_, Neji thought, as he left the store and threw himself into the flood of rowdy shoppers.

He exhaled, and began to make his way towards the training ground. All he needed at times like these was a group training session, but he had missed the previous ones and doubted anyone had time to spare for him.

_But maybe… _Neji stopped in his tracks, earning himself an earful from the man behind him who had only just managed avoid bumping into him. Ignoring that, his eyes scanned the shopfronts parallel to where he had just left. Kiba's words reeled in his mind '_she's right over there, in the shop, ya see?_'. It wasn't like Tenten to shop around these parts, but she must have had the same idea as Neji and thought it would be a good place to kick start the mission. He silently laughed at himself for thinking it would be difficult to find which shop Tenten was in, when there was probably only one option in the whole shopping district. He made his way toward it, and hoped she was still in there.

* * *

Tenten had already bought a fair few weapons, but she had no intention of stopping just yet. Apparently the shop had rotten business around this area, so they were closing for now and hoping to open up a place somewhere else in the near future, but even so they had to sell everything as their weapons licence would only allow weapons in shops, not their own home. To Tentens joy, some of the most expensive, beautifully made things were up to 75% off. She was practically bouncing around the shop.

Her eyes scanned the walls and stands full of kunai, swords and shuriken. There were even kusarigama, kama and yumi, things some regular ninja shops wouldn't even supply! _What to buy next, what to buy next?_

That's when she saw it – a trident, made from what looked to be the finest metals, covered by a deep blue paint, and with gorgeous looping patterns resembling what the sea would look like on a stormy night etched in to it perfectly, without an error in sight.

Her breath caught. "Sir, sir, how much is this?"

"I'm afraid that one's not on sale, dear," the frail man at the counter replied. "It's worth a large sum of money that lots of weapon forgers or collectors wouldn't hesitate to pay. Unless you are willing to offer the same amount, that one will be staying where it is for now."

Tenten took in the words carefully. She probably wouldn't be able to afford it with the money she had on her now, but… she looked over the weapon for the price tag, until she found it on the middle spike.

She nearly squealed at the number she saw. She wouldn't be able to pay for this if she saved up for a year!

Sighing in defeat, she went back to looking for other weapons, but the spring in her step had disappeared.

"Hey, Tenten," greeted a familiar voice.

"Neji?" She spun on her heel to get a good look at him, and he too was scanning the walls for weaponry. "Why are you here? I thought the Hyuga clan had their own supply of weapons."

"We do, but that does not mean I can't own my own personal supply," he replied, picking up a regular kunai and scanning over it, looking unimpressed.

"If you say so," she gave a small laugh.

"To be honest, I saw you in the shop and thought I would come and say hello."

Tenten felt a blush graze over her cheeks for the smallest of seconds. It was so unlike the Hyuga prodigy to show affection of any kind, and as insignificant as it seemed, little gestures like that warmed her heart.

"How nice." She smiled. "So where have you been the past few days? You haven't been at training."

He shrugged. "It was my 21st birthday, so I was confined to the house with a forced celebratory dinner, courtesy of Lady Hinata and Lord Hiashi."

_Crap!_ It was his birthday! Tenten had completely forgotten, and hadn't even bought him a present. It seemed that Gai and Lee had forgotten too, as they hadn't even discussed what they were going to get him. "Ah! Right! Happy birthday, I'm so sorry I forgot Neji, I just…"

"No need to be sorry. The life of a Jounin is busy, it's normal to forget little things like birthdays." She wished that that was a legitimate excuse, but Neji must have known, too, that missions nowadays were scarce and not much had been happening around the village. All the same, she smiled back at him.

"Thanks, Neji. I'll be sure to buy you something when I have the chance," she promised.

"You don't need to. It's just a birthday," he insisted.

"You're forgetting the fact that I _want_ to buy you something. I just happen to like birthday shopping for my friends, so you can't stop me." Not only that, but she was secretly hoping that maybe, just _maybe_, this little gesture would bring the team closer together again.

She thought she saw him smile to himself, but she shrugged it off as a mere trick of the eye.

"So, what do you say we try some of these weapons out?" she asked him.

He raised an eyebrow. "Alright, but don't blame me if I accidently destroy some."

She laughed, and they went on their way to team Gai's favourite training ground.


End file.
